I did an SMC startup, and my mac factory resetted.

[Annaifos]

It's all in the title. Does anybody know what the heck could be the reason for this? My keyboard and mousepad have recently been acting up every now and then, and the SMC restart has always helped to unf*ck the situation. Until now. I have a mid 2015 macbook pro with el capitan.

 

[Howard2k]

That seems unlikely. Your data and accounts are all gone and you're back to the initial setup screens?

What did you do exactly?
What's the current state of the MacBook when powered on?

 

[Annaifos]

That seems unlikely. Your data and accounts are all gone and you're back to the initial setup screens?

What did you do exactly?
What's the current state of the MacBook when powered on?

Yes, that's exactly what's up. Upon startup, the choose language screen opened. I did the good ol' press and hold cmd, ctrl, option and start button until you hear a chime and the apple logo pops up. Then the screen was just black and loading with the white apple logo and I immediately knew something was wrong, because it should just start up and show the account holders names.
[doublepost=1559071021][/doublepost]This is what it looks like when I open it. As you can probably tell, it's loading. It's super slow, so it's basically starting up the choose a language screen...

 

[Howard2k]

What process did you use for the SMC reset?

I think it's time to restore from backup but there's something wrong if you followed the SMC reset process and it did this. I would do the hardware test too, and the NVRAM reset.

 

[Annaifos]

What process did you use for the SMC reset?

I think it's time to restore from backup but there's something wrong if you followed the SMC reset process and it did this. I would do the hardware test too, and the NVRAM reset.

Well, apparently I did it wrong since this is happening. I didn't know you're supposed to remove the battery, so I didn't do that. I've used this method in the past though, without knowing I've been skipping a step, and I've never had any issues... thanks for your help. I guess I'll just have to start resetting my computer then!‍♀️
Did the hardware test, computer says no. As in, no problems found.

 

[Howard2k]

You can't remove the battery on the 2015 without disassembly, you don't need to do that.

https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT204063

NVRAM
Shut down your Mac, then turn it on and immediately press and hold these four keys together: Option, Command, P, and R. You can release the keys after about 20 seconds, during which your Mac might appear to restart.

• On Mac computers that play a startup sound, you can release the keys after the second startup sound.

SMC
If the battery is nonremovable:

1. Choose Apple menu > Shut Down.
2. After your Mac shuts down, press Shift-Control-Option on the left side of the built-in keyboard, then press the power button at the same time. Hold these keys and the power button for 10 seconds. If you have a MacBook Pro with Touch ID, the Touch ID button is also the power button.
3. Release all keys.
4. Press the power button again to turn on your Mac

Hardware Test

https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT201257

 

[Annaifos]

You can't remove the battery on the 2015 without disassembly, you don't need to do that.

https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT204063

NVRAM
Shut down your Mac, then turn it on and immediately press and hold these four keys together: Option, Command, P, and R. You can release the keys after about 20 seconds, during which your Mac might appear to restart.

• On Mac computers that play a startup sound, you can release the keys after the second startup sound.

SMC
If the battery is nonremovable:

1. Choose Apple menu > Shut Down.
2. After your Mac shuts down, press Shift-Control-Option on the left side of the built-in keyboard, then press the power button at the same time. Hold these keys and the power button for 10 seconds. If you have a MacBook Pro with Touch ID, the Touch ID button is also the power button.
3. Release all keys.
4. Press the power button again to turn on your Mac

Hardware Test

https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT201257

Omg hey the NVRAM reset worked. Thank you so much, vastly appreciated. Everything is as I left it! Thanks Howard2k!!

 

[Howard2k]

Omg hey the NVRAM reset worked. Thank you so much, vastly appreciated. Everything is as I left it! Thanks Howard2k!!

Fantastic. Glad to hear it.

 

[DeltaMac]

Omg hey the NVRAM reset worked. Thank you so much, vastly appreciated. Everything is as I left it! Thanks Howard2k!!

The Startup Disk is reset to defaults after an NVRAM reset, so be sure to go to your System Preferences/Startup Disk pane, and select your normal boot drive. You will have to unlock that pane to set your drive.

 

[DeanL]

I believe you accidentally got into Recovery. Recovery also asks you to select language.

 

[Annaifos]

I believe you accidentally got into Recovery. Recovery also asks you to select language.

Oh yeah, actually... Could definitely be!